M

ay 4, Online/AFP

A district in Indonesia'€™s Aceh has passed legislation banning unmarried men and women from riding together on motorbikes, a lawmaker said Monday, the latest new Islamic regulation in the conservative province.

Members of the North Aceh district council last week had approved the regulation, which will come into effect in a year, said lawmaker Fauzan Hamzah, adding that authorities were making efforts to implement sharia law fully.

'€œUnmarried people sitting closely together on a motorcycle is clearly against Islamic sharia as it could lead to sinful acts,'€ Hamzah told AFP.

Your comments:

There are too many rules limiting personal choice and responsibility. I don'€™t need people telling me what I can and cannot wear, how to ride a motorbike, what I can and cannot eat or drink, who I can and cannot touch etc.

I will decide myself by my personal code and within limits of common dignity and decency. I am an adult already and they want to treat people like naughty kids. Quick, hide the cookie jar! If the kids get it they will eat them all at once! That'€™s why I will never go to Aceh.

Deedee S

It'€™s amazing to me how often people on this site comment on things when they clearly haven'€™t read the whole article or understood the details.

Mandatory side-saddle riding applies only to married couples.

Loro Blonyo

I'€™d like to see an investigative documentary on the true feelings of local people, and why they do not stand up to such regulations.

These laws constitute violations of human rights, violations that could be considered crimes against humanity.

Brien

People of North Aceh, don'€™t forget to carry your marriage certificate with you whenever you got to the market, or fishing, or into the fields, or anywhere at all.

Sularia

This is the perfect way to develop, in children and young adults, well integrated personalities with mutual respectful behavior between the sexes: overstress sex, create an unbridgeable gap between the sexes, stimulate frustrations and overrate marriage.

Islamic domination leads to a rigid morality that ultimately all fall victim to, especially women.

Vincent van hall

This is standard compliance with sharia law. The Acehnese do not have some unique take on Islam. They adhere to the Shafi'€™i madhab (Shafi'€™I school), as do all Austronesians in the archipelago. There'€™s nothing controversial or more conservative about them.

They, just like most Austronesians, incorporate syncretism and other elements of previous religious traditions.

A simple look at an Acehnese wedding reveals a great deal of Hindu influence, and I see no evidence that will change.

The Acehnese emphatically do not respect Indonesian law and work to undermine it. This is part and parcel of their separatist identity. It would be easy enough to allow Aceh to go its own way, but I suspect that Indonesia fears the effect that could have on other areas with sizeable separatist movements.

Regional autonomy is an expression of the Acehnese desire to secede from Indonesia.

I cannot say that I blame them considering Indonesia'€™s awful track record of war and systematic oppression. It seems to me that the right move would be to grant full independence to Aceh, a land that existed before Europeans coined the term '€œIndonesia.'€

Dani

It is referred to as the verandah of Mecca and is trying, according to the article, to implement full sharia law. Aceh has an interesting and rich past and it'€™s not all Islamic, obviously, but that history is being eroded slowly.

The Acehnese I know personally are good people but their government administration leaves a lot to be desired in 2015.

Nate

I really do not understand why the Indonesian people, with their thousand-year-old culture, would want to adopt Middle Eastern culture.

Jacques Smits

In my opinion, sharia law for Aceh is the best solution both for Aceh and for the country as a consequence of the 2005 Helsinki agreement between the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and Indonesia.

The agreement clearly states that '€œAceh will exercise authority within all sectors of public affairs, which will be administered in conjunction with its civil and judicial administration.'€

Better to let Aceh employ sharia law than continuing a bloody and futile war. All the money once wasted on insurgency war can now be used for infrastructure.

Beautiful Aceh, may you and your people grow and prosper under sharia law and let the peace between Aceh and Indonesia be forever as it could be.

This latest regulation is aimed at minimizing body contact between non-mahram (unmarried couples). The Acehnese people want sharia law; why force democracy onto a people that doesn'€™t care for it?

Who here would enforce democracy at the price of further bloodshed?

Santo HS Wijaya

It'€™s absurd that they'€™ll apply this to non-Muslim couples as well; yet one more reason I won'€™t ever be visiting Aceh. It is too bad really, since it does have some nice scenery and history from a tourist'€™s perspective.

Ben van Staveren

Why does the Indonesian government not step in and say, enough is enough, Aceh is part of Indonesia and must follow Indonesia'€™s laws and Constitution?

Does the government not realize that the more license it gives to Aceh to implement a different culture, the more likely the region is to insist on independence?

Jakfan